Record-high Labor Day gasoline prices greet Democrats in Charlotte

Democrats arrived in Charlotte on Monday to an ill-timed reminder of one of the issues plaguing President Barack Obama’s reelection bid: high gasoline prices.

Prices at the pump reached a national average of $3.83 Monday, according to AAA, setting a record high for a Labor Day. The previous Labor Day record of $3.69 was set in 2008, at the height of the last presidential election fight.

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Gas prices have increased by 23 cents in the past month during the height of the summer driving season. But AAA predicts that Obama, who has faced sustained attacks from Republicans over gas prices, will get a respite in the coming weeks once refineries that shut down as a result of Hurricane Isaac reopen.

But high prices will probably linger. “While prices should drop in September barring any major developments, we expect gasoline to remain at or near record highs through the end of 2012,” AAA spokesman Avery Ash said in a statement.

Republicans have pummeled Obama over gas prices, hoping to appeal to undecided voters who are struggling to fill up their tanks. The GOP has used pump prices to launch broad attacks on the president’s energy policies, arguing that the administration has stood in the way of expanded domestic oil production.

But the Obama administration counters that it is working to safely expand domestic production, while improve vehicle fuel efficiency, pointing to a recently finalized regulation to get the U.S. vehicle fleet to 54.5 mpg by 2025.

The RNC pounced on the latest news Monday.

“Four years ago Democrats were decrying high gas prices and now they have absolutely no solutions to bring gas prices down. President Obama has acknowledged his energy plan is a hodgepodge when what our country needs is an all of the above approach to our energy problems,” RNC spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski said in an email.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 2:11 p.m. on September 3, 2012.

So how does pushing higher fuel standard for cars help the middle class? Does Obama have any clue how those high numbers will be reached? To do it things like cheap steel will be replaced with much more expensive composites, many of which are oil based. It will require the invention and refinement of exotic substances to make batteries, does that sound cheap? So what if you can't afford Obama's new American cars? You're punished because the price of gas will continue to increase.

Let the Charlotte "Freak Show" begin... Going to be fun watching these guys tell us, "... All is well. The obama is great. 8.3% isn't that bad. $3.90 a gallon is okay. 23 million unemployed or underemployed is good. Let's play golf. No budget from the socialist-democratic Senate. Not one single vote for the obama's budget. Joe Biden is smart. Blah, blah, blah..." Lots of GOP commercials will be developed from this convention...!!!

Gee, thanks Barry. Thanks to you we can't drill domestically, thanks to you refineries can't afford to upgrade and you won't allow new refineries to be built, thanks to you we have numerous grades of gas instead of one, thanks for not letting us do the next best thing, build a pipeline from Canada, thanks for raising the gasoline tax, thanks for being a great LibMarxist president.

Yeah, thanks for that one democrats, the all caring and sharing looking out for the middle-class party of trillion plus debt. You've really helped us out a lot. Even more, you've really helped my jobless kids out too. They're now majoring in food stamps and welfare.

People people people, if you think the gas for your cars is high, wait till you see what Obama has just done by his Kingship Executive order. Read what he has done at the Blaze about Green Energy.Read the whole article and some of the comments.If you idiots put that man back in there, then DO NOT COMPLAIN TO US WHO TRIED AND TRIED TO WARN YOU! VOTE FOR THE COMMUNIST AT YOUR OWN PERIL!

....but you must realize that this gas is special, thus its higher cost. It is a special blend designed to keep your car running while cleaning out your wallet......we are proud of "Obama gas" .......Brahahahah!